Wayne,
Glad to hear you are getting out for some golf again. Rustic is certainly a fun place to play...
It was good to get out again. In fact, I played Black Gold the following morning with a group who absolutely loved the place. I just don't get it. Black Gold reminds me of any other California canyon-style course. Could've been Robinson Ranch... Wente... Talega... you name it. Can't walk it. All the Par 3's seemed to play/look the same (long carry with a bunker short right). Can't remember a single hole except 1 and 18.
On the other hand, Rustic was a treat, from the standpoint that it's nothing like any of the courses designed/built out here in recent times (to my limited experience). One issue though, the 15th hole at RC (and even the 12th to a lesser extent) seems to not fit the links-inspired, Ranch-style that the rest of the holes have. It is much more of this aforementioned Calif. canyon style, with it's forced carry tee shot. Maybe I'm wrong... it was getting dark so I may have missed the subtelty of the hole.
One other design feature that I think separates RC from the others are the bunkers or maintaned waste areas that border the s**t. You at least of a chance of finding, keeping, and possibly playing a shot, as opposed to having to wade into rattlesnake invested shrubs to find your $6 Pro-V (or in my case a $2 Laddie).